One Piece: Silent-Silent Fruit

From the moment he decided to attack Marineford, Rosinante knew that one of the most dangerous threats he would inevitably face was Sakazuki's Meteor Volcano. That's why developing a countermeasure for that technique was absolutely essential—without it, the battlefield would become a deadly trap.

Back on Skypiea, during the preparation phase, Rosinante's strength hadn't improved much. At his current level, further breakthroughs were hard to come by in a short time. Vice Admiral Tsuru had guessed one thing correctly: the reason his power had advanced so rapidly was because he had unlocked and drawn upon his hidden potential. But this wasn't thanks to drugs or harsh training regimes. No—Rosinante had awakened something deeper.

His Observation Haki allowed him to sense life itself, and through that perception, he had awakened Conqueror's Haki. More importantly, he had uncovered the secret behind the layers of life. Over the past two years, he had not just trained, but perceived—perceived the depths of his own life force, gradually unlocking and drawing out the dormant power hidden within his body.

That said, he hadn't overdrawn on this potential—he had merely activated it earlier than nature intended. Still, his repeated use of the "Silencing" ability to override the body's natural limits had left its mark. The damage wasn't severe enough to hinder his future growth, but it did mean one thing: his days of exponential growth were over. The advanced potential locked within his body had been used up. From now on, any further progress would depend entirely on his own hard work and the luck of opportunity.

In short, he couldn't count on increasing his power again anytime soon. He needed to find another way to counter Meteor Volcano.

Besides returning from Ohara with a little girl and a group of scholars, Rosinante had brought back something just as valuable—countless tomes and ancient records. The Tree of Knowledge had long claimed to be the greatest library in the world, holding rare documents and books from across the seas. And naturally, it wasn't limited to historical records alone.

Determined to find a way to defend against Meteor Volcano—a devastating large-scale long-range attack—Rosinante delved deep into the texts he'd salvaged from Ohara.

And he soon confirmed it: bringing those books back had been one of the smartest decisions he'd ever made.

The power of knowledge was immense. Among the books were not only texts on training methods and combat theory, but also research on how to utilize and develop Devil Fruit powers. Most excitingly, Rosinante came across ancient accounts detailing how different people in history had awakened and expanded their Devil Fruit abilities.

One particular discovery left him stunned.

He read in a biography of a legendary figure that there had once been another user of the Silence-Silence Fruit who had developed an ability called Silence. Though similar to Rosinante's own "Silence" technique, this power worked quite differently—it created an area-of-effect disruption, a sort of field that interfered with enemy abilities. Within that field, enemies would struggle to activate their powers, or the potency of their abilities would be drastically reduced.

Unlike Rosinante's "Silence," which required direct contact to work, this historical power could be cast from a distance over a wide range.

As soon as he read that passage, Rosinante's eyes gleamed with clarity.

That was the solution to Sakazuki's Meteor Volcano.

Without hesitation, he began working to develop the ability himself.

Given that his strength was already at Admiral-level, and his mastery over his Devil Fruit had reached an extremely sophisticated level, creating a new technique wasn't out of reach. As the saying goes, where there's a concept, there's a possibility—and with the blueprint laid out before him, Rosinante knew he could bring this "Silence" to life.

He even managed to fuse this new ability with his own Silent Demon Eye, taking its effectiveness to new heights.

Just moments ago, the technique he used to weaken the Meteor Volcano had been none other than this evolved form of Silence—and the results were remarkable.

Sakazuki, seeing Rosinante flash a mocking grin, felt his face cloud over. Then with a sharp "Soru", he vanished from where he stood.

"Sakazuki!" Sengoku barked, trying to stop him—but it was too late.

Sengoku didn't believe charging in now was a wise move. Based on the intelligence they'd gathered, Rosinante had developed the ability to silence Sakazuki's magma and counterattack effectively. That had already been demonstrated during the Ohara incident.

But that counterattack relied on Sakazuki's attacks landing on Rosinante. Earlier, when Rosinante weakened the meteor barrage in the sky, he hadn't had any leverage to return the attack. The smartest strategy now would've been to continue launching Meteor Volcano attacks and exhaust Rosinante's stamina.

"Let him go," said Kong with a deep voice. "Now that Rosinante has shown himself, he won't be stirring up anything beyond our grasp. Prepare yourselves—let's end this farce."

"Yes, sir!" the marines responded in unison.

At the same time, the Vice Admirals began to move, heading toward the base of the main building where the Second Division was already fortified behind the defense wall.

"Still such a warm welcome, Sakazuki!" Rosinante said with a grin.

"Rosinante, DIE!!" Sakazuki barked as he flashed forward, appearing directly in front of him. A massive Great Eruption punch, blazing with molten fury, flew straight at Rosinante.

"You really never learn, do you?" Rosinante muttered as he made no move to dodge. He simply stood there as Sakazuki's magma-clad fist crashed into him.

In an instant, Rosinante was engulfed in searing lava, explosions detonating wildly across his body.

"Captain!!" Raelmann shouted, eyes wide in horror.

"Haha! Your captain sure knows how to deliver himself on a silver platter. So this is the 'grand gift' he mentioned in his letter? Well then, the Navy accepts it gladly!" laughed Doberman.

"I want to see how much punishment you can actually take," Sakazuki growled, his expression dark. Unlike Doberman, he wasn't celebrating. Instead, he increased the magma flow, unleashing an even stronger barrage—he knew this wasn't enough to kill Rosinante.

"You're just as arrogant as ever, Sakazuki," Rosinante's voice echoed from within the blaze. "Even though you know what my powers can do, you still recklessly charge in. Not that I hate that part of you."

Then Rosinante raised a fist and calmly threw a punch.

Sakazuki's eyes widened as a force tore through his Great Eruption, a surge of power rushing toward him. His expression shifted immediately. With no time to hesitate, he crossed his arms and quickly coated them in Armament Haki to defend—